Portfolio | Sparkcraftllc

Product Experiences

DJ Furby

DJ Furby was one of the most innovative products I've ever worked on. First of it's kind interactive lights in a soft body, created several engineering challenges, with several prototypes made before we finalized a design. Led the full Electronic Development, from Hardware Architecture, Gameplay, Software, even Consumer testing to ensure we had the right games and features. From the very beginning of a concept to excecution, it was truly a one of a kind toy to work on. With over 1000 ways to play.

Disney Princess Dance Code Belle

Disney's Belle has long been an avid reader and curious learner, and now kids can imagine that Belle is showing them the art of dance. Imagine dancing across the grand ball room with grace while being introduced to fun coding techniques with Dance Code featuring Disney Princess Belle. This multifaceted doll has a range of interactive activities, both in app and in real life, for kids to become immersed in. They can connect to one of their favorite Disney Princess characters while also being exposed to instructive and illuminating ways to play.

Fun Fact, I got to meet Angela Lansbury for a recording session for this product.

Magic the Gathering Chandra Gauntlet

Chandra Gauntlet presented with several challenges; how do we create the effect of fire in a safe way, how do we create a water resistant interaction to control the effect, how do we ensure we can have good battery life for consumers bringing it to conventions and have a premium experience for the consumer. Testing out several lighting scenarios using atomizer piezo and LED types, we found the right distance, angle and brightness to give an awesome effect! The continuous turning knob was also an engineering challenge, as it couldn't physically touch an encoder. Through hall effect switches with magnets, we were able to give the results we wanted with the interaction of the knob.

Star Wars Animatronic Droids (Chopper & Lola)

Both Chatter Back Chopper and LO-LA59 created unique challenges, with balancing droid movements and interactions into tight areas. Working closely with mechanical engineers, we were able to find enough space for 4 AA batteries (which is what was needed to ensure good battery life), motor and several sensors. Even those these were complex animatronic items, the team delivered the essence of each of these droids and provide great play experiences.

Furby (2023)

When we decided to relaunch Furby for 2023, we knew we had to make a Furby we hadn't seen before, with features that make it uniquely Furby. The feedback we had gotten from consumers is that they wanted to have Furby know what you are saying. So we put off-line voice recognition in Furby, so that he knew a handful of phrases when the child says them. This was a huge challenge as trying to train a voice recognition algorithm with kids as young as six and different dialects, was a huge challenge to ensure it worked across the globe. I helped create the process for doing this and with it from out testing achieved an over 92% accuracy rate. Plus all the other sensors and gameplay we put into Furby, made it a truly incredible toy and very uniquely Furby.

Disney Frozen Play a Melody Elsa

How do we create an interactive dress, where a girl can learn and play Let It Go? First figuring out how many interactions there should be, where it felt natural, but not overwhelming and aesthetically pleasing. Utilizing MIDI effects, with a touch membrane, so that a user just needed to gently touch a sensor, rather than press down to create the music. We added a free play mode and a learning mode, to teach kids how to play Let It Go in a fun way. This was just a steppingstone to figuring out how to do a cap sensor on soft rounded products, such as DJ Furby.

Dreamworks Trolls Singing and Talking Poppy and Branch

How can we create an experience where Poppy and Branch are sold separate, but when come together, create a duet or a conversation together. Utilizing IR technology, we were able to synchronize their singing together and have back and forth in conversation, to give an unique play experience. However, we had to ensure that even without the other Troll there, that it created its own experience. So we utilized unique code that could wake the other Troll up via IR and send back a signal to let the other Troll know they were there. Then from them perform a duet or solo, depending on an IR return signal.

Baby Alive Snackin' Sarah

One of the first projects I was the lead EE on, this interactive Baby Alive Doll, presented the unique challenge of having the doll know when food was present in their mouth and start "eating" it. Utilizing a similar compound to play-doh and it's conductive nature. We were able to strategically place a sensor inside the mouth to detect the conductive material, then utilizing a motor to simulate the eating mechanism. This plus fun gameplay, really made it an innovative product and a great start to a long career of making great toys!